Elvis Presley’s Birthday Weekend
Graceland
Friday-Monday, January 5-8
Haaaappppyyyy birthday, dear old Mr. Presley. He’d be 89, if I’m doing my math correctly. Fingers-crossed. I did all that adding and subtracting in my head, so if I’m right, congratulations might be in order. In any case, Graceland’s celebrating his b-day whether it’s his 87th or 79th. The four-day hoopla will have live music, special tours, conversations, bus tours, and more. On Monday, there’s the Birthday Proclamation Ceremony featuring a birthday cake cutting and an official proclamation of Elvis Presley Day. Learn more here.
Company
Orpheum Theatre
Performances through Sunday, January 7
Is your resolution to see our writer Michael Donahue in the wild? Well, you just missed him. Sorry. Legally, we’re not allowed to announce his current whereabouts, mostly because we have no idea where he is at any given time. But rumor has it he was at the Orpheum this week seeing Company, and he took a liking to it. So the best we have to offer is that you, too, see Company and breathe the same air that he breathed, walk the same carpet he walked. Oh, Donahue. Company runs on Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets ($29-$125) can be purchased here.
Speed of Sound
CANVAS of Memphis
Friday, January 5, 9 p.m.
The speed of sound is 343 meters per second in dry air. Fun fact, you’re welcome. You can pull it out at the Speed of Sound event put on by the Memphis Association of Dance & Dubstep this Friday. The lineup covers a broad range of electronic music — Open Decks (9 p.m.), BlazeBunny (debut set! 10 p.m.), Lost Cypher (11 p.m.), Nodus Defect (midnight), and P for Parker (1 a.m.). The event is 21+.
Super Saturday: Music in Art with Opera Memphis
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Saturday, January 6, 10 a.m.-noon
Join Opera Memphis singers to celebrate the arts and hear the sounds that inspired the art in the special exhibit “Black American Portraits,” which closes this weekend. Bring the whole crew to go on a tour in the galleries with talented opera singers, make art in the studio, and discover how artists are inspired by music, music is inspired by art, and more. Admission to the museum is free.
901 Wrestling New Year’s BANG
Black Lodge
Saturday, January 6, 7 p.m.
Wrestling with your New Year’s resolutions? Why? Why wrestle at all when you can watch the professionals do it? This Saturday’s show(?) — er, match(?) — is sure to be an action-packed with “Live Wire” Bobby Ford vs. “King of Memphis” Hunter Havoc(c) as the main event. I know who neither of them are but hell yeah! Also appearing are a bunch of others, who I also don’t know because I, personally, am not into wrestling, but I’m not here to yuck your yum. Tickets ($11-$85) can be purchased here.
Adeem the Artist
B-Side
Saturday, January 6, 7:30 p.m.
Adeem Maria (they/them) is a seventh-generation Carolinian, a makeshift poet, singer-songwriter, storyteller, and blue-collar artist. Imbued with the ancestral traces of Southern music and colored by a palette ranging from lo-fi anti-folk to post-punk, their songs traverse the vast compass of human emotion.
Luke Null
Growlers
Tuesday, January 9, 8 p.m.
Luke Null, a former featured player on SNL and now a regular at the Hollywood Imrov, brings his standup to Growlers. Luke Null began performing comedy the moment he picked up a guitar in Chicago. During his stay in the Windy city he developed his signature musical comedy style, blending witty humor with catchy earworms. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.
Letter From Birmingham Jail – Panel Discussion
Cossitt Library
Wednesday, January 10, 6 p.m.
Join Memphis Public Libraries for a panel discussion of Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” with Earle Fisher, adjunct instructor of contemporary theology at Rhodes College and pastor of Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church, and Charles McKinney, director of African studies at Rhodes College. The discussion will include a brief summary, critical analysis and the letter’s relevance in contemporary society, plus a special performance by Elizabeth King.
Drag N Drive Viewing Party
Evergreen Theatre
Thursday, January 11, 7 p.m.
Mid-South Pride presents an evening of dazzling performances, laughter, and community spirit as you watch last year’s Drag N Drive at Memphis Pride Fest video. Stay after the show to ask questions of the director and producer of the show. Open to all ages.
There’s always something happening in Memphis. See a full calendar of events here.
Submit events here or by emailing calendar@memphisflyer.com.
